Philadelphia 76ers: Richardson feeling the energy

PHILADELPHIA — Jason Richardson played a game Wednesday night in which his team shot 25 3-pointers and the center had a double-double to go along with five blocked shots.

He might have had to check the front of his jersey to make sure it didn’t read “Magic.”

No, this wasn’t Orlando. It was Philly and those were the 76ers hoisting those treys, and it was Spencer Hawes and not Dwight Howard, or Andrew Bynum, for that matter, putting up 16 points, 12 rebounds and a swatting a handful of shots in a season-opening 84-75 win over the Denver Nuggets.

Richardson finished with a little bit of everything in his stat line: 10 points, four rebounds, four steals, two assists, three blocks in 36 minutes. He scored the first points of the Sixers’ season, draining a 3-pointer. He’d only make one more trey in seven attempts, and the Sixers only made seven of those 25 long-range hoists. But for the first time in forever, you got the feeling this was a team that can and should launch from beyond the arc.

In that way, it was very similar to his experience in Orlando. But just one game into his Sixers career, he could tell the differences, too.

“I think we are similar in that we have big men in Spence, and Lavoy (Allen), and when Andrew comes back and is down there demanding the ball with shooters surrounding him,” Richardson said. “I think the difference from Orlando is that Doug (Collins) doesn’t want us to be one-dimensional. He wants to move guys around and doesn’t expect them to just stand out there and shoot. He wants them to handle the ball, to post up and do different things.”

Richardson spent less than two seasons in Orlando, and they were filled with the tumult between Howard and the organization. It also had him feeling less active on the court. The Magic had a very specific game plan: let Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard play pick-and-roll, and wait for the kick-out passes. The waiting around was uncomfortable for the veteran, and he came out on opening night and was moving like a guy 10 years younger.

“There was so much energy out there,” Richardson said. “I wouldn’t say nervous energy, but too much adrenaline. The crowd was amazing tonight.”

“I had a lot of adrenaline. I was just hoping (the first 3-pointer) didn’t go over the backboard and into the stands.”

“I think all the threes are in the system, nothing forced, and I think Doug wants us to shoot them.”

Collins had no gripes with the shot selection. Sure, he wanted to see more go in, but holding Denver, the highest-scoring team in the NBA a season ago, to its lowest point total since Feb. 7, 2009, made it tough to criticize.

“There are going to be nights when we make 14 of them,” Collins said. “The nice thing is that normally when you shoot a lot of threes it compromises your defense. As long as they are good threes, I have no problem with that.”

Dorell Wright, who had 14 points off the bench, 12 of them in the first half, was relieved to play the type of game where shooting 3-pointers didn’t mean defense was sacrificed. Two seasons in Golden State made him miss the East Coast style.

“That was my welcome back to the East right there,” Wright said. “The East is all about grind-them-out games. When you don’t shoot that well — what, 35 percent (from the field overall) — and you still get wins? That’s impressive. It lets you know how good we are on defense.”

“It’s good to know that when the offense isn’t going our way, we won’t hang our heads and think, What happened?’”